Address in Costa Rica

Here is my address down here at the YWAM base in Costa Rica.

Susie Walter
YWAM - Heredia
Apartado 1444-3000
Heredia, Costa Rica
Central America

If you want to send me mail, I would LOVE it! However, please only send me letters, not packages.  Although those would be nice too, apparently to pick up a package we have to go all the way to San Jose and it is quite a process. But letters are more than welcome!!! Hope to hear from you soon!

End of Team #1

So, it's Sunday now and the team from Washington left on Friday night. Here's a quick recap about how the rest of the week with them went...

Although most of the work that we did was construction and building the house, we had one opportunity to go to Guarari, a very poor neighborhood in Heredia. A local church was putting on a kids program and I went with some of the youth to play with the kids. I spent alot of time with this girl here, talking to her, practicing English with her little brother, and playing with her little sisters.
After they did a puppet show about Jesus, we got to help hand out food to the many hungry little children and their families.
Back at the construction site, there was plenty of work to be done. Many days I was the only translator on the site and worked alot in that. Especially on the roofing day. It ended up just being me, the Costa Rican construction guy named Memo, and an American man from the team up on the roof - I was there to tranlsate between the two of them who actually knew what they were doing. But eventually Memo was like, "Get this girl a hammer!" I guess he figured if I was going to be up there, I might as well be working too!

Hammering in drywall for the roof

Putting on the roof, just me and Memo

Here's a look at the house, somewhat of before and after shots...

This was taken on day 2 of construction

This is the beginning of the last day of construction (I dont have a final picture yet because we left after it was dark)- by the end of the day there were doors, windows, electricity, and was painted pink!

The last part of the constuction team brought tons of work for both them and me! In addition to roofing, I sanded, used a power saw, put up siding and painted.

Shannon and I, working hard

We were finally able to hand over the keys to Miriam, an older woman had prayed for years that God would provide a house for her and her family. What a blessing to be able to be a part of that prayer being answered. She has 14 children, but will only share her house with one daughter and her granddaughter.

Miriam, the very happy new owner of this new house, Brandon, the team's youth pastor, and Alvaro, the YWAM leader

After a long week of work, the team had a free day at the beach, and I was very happy because I got to go with! We visited the same beach that my team went to in the spring, Jaco beach on the Pacific side. On the way there, we stopped and got out at this bridge where we got to see crocodiles in the river!

Although it was overcast, we had a fun day at the beach. We took the team to the airport on Friday night, then Saturday and Sunday were pretty quiet on the base. Saturday I did laundry and then at night I went to Alvaro's church for their youth group. He and some other guys from the base played music to lead worship, it was really cool. Then today I went back to his church for the service and then back to his house to eat lunch with his family. This afternoon we have alot of work to do for the next team that is coming tomorrow night. This Canadian team has 31 people, so we have to figure out what outreaches we are going to do with them and also how we are going to fit them all here! Hasta luego!

Building a Roof

Sunday night we had the opportunity to go to a youth center in downtown San Jose. It was just like one big room and they had a projector screen that they were playing videos on and listening to music. We also played ping pong and foosball with the youth. It was alittle awkward at first because not many of the people there spoke english, but I put my translating skills to good use and got some good conversations going between the Washington team and the locals. I even had one guy teaching me some salsa moves, it was great. Then there was a speaker, who really could not have been more than 16 years old, that talked about prayer. Worship music and games finished up a great night of bonding.

Yesterday we were back at the worksite and I did some more translating. There is one Costa Rican guy, Memo, who runs all the construction stuff and then some other adult men from the Washington team that do most of the heavy work and the kids just help out wherever they can. As the only one that spoke spanish, I ended up on the roof with Memo and one of the other men translating between the two of them, and eventually they handed me a hammer and put me to work as well. It was great, because I felt like I was actually helping (instead of just supervising, which I do alot) and it was pretty cool to be up on the roof hammering away.

More work at the construction site for the rest of the week, we need to get the house done by Thursday. I just hope the rain stops!!

Hola from Costa Rica!

Hello again! I am writing to you now from Heredia, Costa Rica, a town of 350,000 people about 20 minutes from the capital city of San Jose.

In Heredia I will be working on staff at the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base where I brought a team to over last spring break. Each week of the summer, we have a team of high school students that come down from the U.S. to serve down here in Costa Rica.

I arrived on Friday, June 22 and was greeted at the airport by my friend Shannon (from IWU) and a YWAM staff member, Ryan. It was great to see some familiar faces. When we made it back to the base, it was very exciting to see another old friend from the spring, Alvaro, as well as lots of new faces from the team that is currently serving here. There are 18 students and 5 adults here right now from Washington. Their main task from the week is building a house and I get to help! Yesterday I went with them to the site and they had already laid the foundation and built most of the structure for the house and were working on the roof. I got to use a nailgun, it was pretty exciting. In the afternoon, I went with a group of 8 students to a poor barrio (neighborhood) where a local church was putting on a kids program and we got to play with them as well as hand out food to the kids and their families.

Yesterday night we took the team to play indoor soccer and it was really fun. I think this is the first time I've played soccer since I was on my high school team, so that was amusing. They are really into soccer down here though, so I'm sure I'll get many more opportunities to brush up on my skills.

Today (Sunday) we went to church in downtown Heredia, and then took the team to see the house they had built during a trip down here two years ago. After that we had lunch at the local mall, where I saw Ronald McDonald taking dessert orders at McDonald's in the food court - it was awesome. Tonight we are going to a local youth group, so that should be a fun experience as well.

Below is a picture of the main building at the YWAM base. You can see more pictures of the base on their website at:

http://www.ywamheredia.com/pages/Base%20Tour

It's so great to be back here! I'm going to try to write little updates as often as I can, so keep checking in! Dios le bendiga (God bless you!)

Final Weekend in Argentina

My final weeked in Argentina was full of randomness. On Friday night, I went with my friend Michelle to a tango show. It was different than what we thought because the main attraction was actually this old man playing the saxophone... but he was also playing tango music and there were dancers as well so it turned out to be pretty cool. It was not a very touristy place at all (we were the only Americans) so it was also need to experience the real tango culture with the locals.

tango show

me and a picture of Carlos Gardel, known as the father of Argentinian tango

Saturday I woke up feeling alittle sick, so after a quick trip to the pharmacy (don't need a prescription for antibiotics in Latin America - I love that), I headed to one of the most unique places I have ever been during my travels: a Jesus theme park called Tierra Santa, or "Holy Land." The sign outside the park says "Visit Jerusalem in Buenos Aires all year long" - indeed. The park is set up like the town of Jersusalem during Jesus' time and you are supposed to feel like you are walking around the city during the first century of Christianity. As you walk along the dirt roads of this recreation of the holy land, all of the workers at the park are dressed up in Mary and Joseph-like costumes out of a nativity play and there are random statues of donkeys and sheep everywhere. They have shows displaying the birth of Christ, the Last Supper and the Creation scene as well. As you meander around the city, you'll find an old Jewish temple, a mosque and other typical buildings of the time. Along the way there are numerous life-size statues of Jesus portraying scenes from his life: Lazarus from the dead, the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, the garden of Gethsemene, His trial in front of Pilate, and the Passion scene. In the middle of the park, there is a hill that you climb up to experience the crucifixion of Christ on one side, followed by a 18 meter high resurrection of Jesus scene on the other. The park prides itself as the only religious theme park in the world, where you can experience the music, food, and lifestyle of that time period in this recreation of a town so full of faith.

me and the giant Jesus - just a taste of this place...

To fully grasp what this place was like, you have to see all the pictures. Here is a link to the rest of the photos I took:

http://iwu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021435&l=037c4&id=41603236

On Sunday, I made my way out of Buenos Aires into the Argentinian countryside, known as the Pampas. I had a plan to go to a ranch and experience the real "gaucho" culture (gauchos are the Argentinian version of cowboys.) I took a bus from downtown BsAs to the small dusty town of San Antonio de Areco. When I arrived at the one room bus station, I got a map from the tourism lady there and asked her where the Estancia La Cinacina was (the ranch I was going to visit). She pointed me down the road and said, "just walk to the end of the road and you'll be there." This little town about 20 blocks long was the perfect example of the Argentinian countryside. I chose this ranch because it offered a dia en el campo, or a "day in the countryside", a full-on experience of the typical life in the Pampas. I had arrived early before the day was to begin at 11am, so I took the liberty to take a little self-tour of the town. That only took about 1/2 an hour: I visited the church and sat in on mass, took a walk along the riverback and across an old bridge, and other than that everything was closed. So, I headed on to the ranch a bit early, and took a little tour of it myself before all the other tourists showed up.

me on the ranch

When everyone else arrived, the workers there were all in traditional dress and greeted us with wine, salami, and homemade empanadas. We then had the opportunity to go horseback riding and take horse drawn carriage rides through the ranch. As they were preparing lunch, we got to eat ribs pretty much pulled straight from the cow (after hanging by the fire first, of course)...

One of the workers, seeing that I had arrived alone, asked if I would like to be seated for lunch with these two nice Argentinian women. I of course agreed and they were more than delighted to have me and even more happy that I could speak spanish to them. It was awesome because they were able to share with me more about the Pampas culture and music and food and everything. During lunch we were served a traditional asado, or barbeque and it was amazing - full of steak and sausages and bread and salad and potoates - everything was great! One of the dishes that arrived was called morcilla, and I couldn't quite tell what it was, but my new Argentinian tias (or "aunts" as they started calling themselves) explained it to me only AFTER I was done eating it - basically a mix of cow blood and pig skin, haha. Then they told me that alot of people eat it if they have blood problems and then said "at least you won't get anemia now! haha After lunch there was a show of traditional gaucho musica and dance. Of course my new tias were so excited to get the gauchos to come and dance with the awkward American girl... haha, it was all in good fun.

Argentinian folkloric dances outside on the ranch

me dancing with a gaucho after lunch

After all the dancing had subsided, everyone headed back out to the stables for the carreras de sortijas, or "horse races." Here's how they work: a gaucho attempts to pull off a ring (silver-dollar sized) hanging from a rope in the middle of the lane off a with a stick thing will going at full speed on his horse... To me it looked impossible, but most of the actually succeded!

carrera de sortija

my Argentinian tias and our new gaucho friends

At the end of it all, we all took pictures with the gauchos and got another opportunity to go horseback riding. It was great because one of my new gaucho buddies noticed how excited I was about riding and asked me if I wanted to gallop! (of course, no waivers, lessons or helmets necessary for horseback riding in Latin America...) So at the end of the day, I got to go galloping through the pampas with the gauchos and soak in the last bit of fresh country air - it was amazing.

horseback riding with my tias

Before we left, we were served some traditional pastries and my Argentinian tias showed me how to make traditional mate, ( pronounced mah-tey) a tea-like drink they have here all the time using ground up leaves from the yerba mate plant.

me having mate

After all the activities on the ranch were finished, my tias told me they were going to look for a artensania (traditional crafts) market and invited me to come along. Of course I agreed and we took about an hour driving up and down the streets of the town looking for somewhere to do some shopping, but in the end didn't find anything. But it turned out ok, because then they offered to drive me back to Buenos Aires with them so that I didn't have to take the bus! Yeay! I also found out that one of the women works at a bilingual school here in Buenos Aires and would be more than happy to hire me to teach English if I ever decide to come back here! What luck!

Returning back to the big city was a little rough after such a great time in the campo, but I have finished up all of my teaching and assignments for my course now and am heading back to the U.S. on Friday night. One month in Argentina is in no way enough time to really experience all that this country has to offer, so hopefully I will be able to come back again!

Double Takes in BsAs

I've been saving up some pictures I've taken during my time here in Buenos Aires - I like to call them my "Wait.... what??" moments - times when I just had to do a double take because I wasn't really sure what I was seeing. And of course, I had to stop and take a picture! Enjoy...

A clown giving an impromptu show to an Argentine family on a street corner in downtown Buenos Aires


A man driving this old car down one of the city streets, and he's doing from the right hand side!
A Chicago-esque scene: the Buenos Aires planetarium

Common chain of mini-mart here Buenos Aires: wait, how many hours a day are you open?

Mini version/model of the neighborhood La Boca

Giant statue of... I don't even know... in La Boca

Looks a bit like Big Ben, no? Here is the "Torre de los Ingleses" (Tower of the English) in downtown Buenos Aires

This man was waiting on a street corner outside the zoo with two little ponies with sombreros on, perhaps offering rides to little kids before they go to the zoo? Who knows...

We also had Barney greeting visitors on their way to the zoo.

Wait, is the light red or yellow? You don't have to decide! The lights here change to red AND yellow right before they turn green

A few other interesting things I've encountered while living here:
~On the 29th of every month, everyone eats gnocchis. My host mom couldn't tell me why, but apparently gnocchis become the special in restaurants and the main dish in homes on the 29th of each month.
~ They have some interesting superstitions here... for example, you cannot pass the salt shaker from one person to another at a table - you need to put it down on the table first so that the other person can pick it up themselves. It's bad luck to pass it from hand to hand... I also found out that leaving your purse on the ground anywhere (your house, a restaurant, etc) is considered to bring you bad luck financially.
~Something that I noticed here is that no one wears gloves - ever. For example, last week Monday, May 28, was the coldest day in May that Buenos Aires had experienced in 100 years, reaching a low of 30 degrees F. (yes, and I'm so glad I was there to be a part of that... not really). Anyway, no one was wearing gloves, except for me of course, who was freezing yet well-prepared, being from Chicago. My host mom told me that gloves are just considered a bother - like when you are trying to pay for your bus ticket, or look for something in your purse, etc- so people don't ever use them. And it doesn't really snow here, so they just consider them unnecessary.

That's all for now, perhaps I'll have a few more "wait... what?" moments before I leave in just 4 short days!